Summer camp member Brianna Brooks smiles after learning how to float on her stomach with help from Dixon Park Pool manager Christian Miller. View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Swimming opportunity brings smiles

Area camp combines community efforts to serve needy children

Date published: 8/21/2009

BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE

Three pairs of skinny brown legs kick, kick, kick the pool water, churning it until it appears to boil.

An 8-year-old boy practices his stroke, cupping his hands and circling his arms through the water.

The calls of "Marco!" and "Polo!" float through the air at Dixon Park Pool in Fredericksburg.

Children pinch their noses as they fly through the air and into the pool.

They are universal sights and sounds of childhood in summer.

But an hour earlier, many of these children stuck to the concrete patio, afraid to venture into the pool.

They live in Heritage Park, an apartment complex less than five miles from Dixon Pool. And city children get to swim free at the parks and recreation facility.

But transportation problems and work schedules keep many of their families on dry land. Most of the families living at Heritage Park are low-income.

An area camp brought more than 50 children from Heritage Park to the pool for water safety and swimming lessons this week.

The Red Cross, area charity group WINGS and three area churches collaborated for the effort. Throughout the summer, nearly 20 groups got together to give these children--and more than 50 others living at Heritage Park--new experiences.

The youngsters played soccer, baseball and basketball. They went on nature walks, learned about rescue squads and practiced camping.

For nine weeks, the children attended a two-hour daily afternoon camp held on the grounds of their apartment complex. The camp is named SOKS, short for "sema, ota, kua, soma," which is Swahili for "speak, dream, grow, read."

Parents didn't have to worry about transportation, camp fees or supplies.

About 100 children participated; half were refugees who've resettled in the apartment complex.

Fredericksburg Baptist Church spearheaded the SOKS camp and recruited more than a dozen other groups including churches, soccer teams, sheriff's deputies, a rescue squad and the Red Cross.

"The community picture of it all coming together is just a beautiful thing," said Sarah Bush, who ran the SOKS camp. "It's cool for the kids to see that it's not just one church that loves them--it's the community."

Bush relied on many connections made as community and church liaison for Micah Ecumenical Ministries. And church volunteers added extra contacts as they invited groups to take part.

Last year, volunteers working with refugee children first thought of the SOKS camp. The name stands for "sema, ota, kua, soma," which is Swahili for "speak, dream, grow, read." Organizers hoped to teach English and other academics to help refugee children struggling in public schools. While hosting the camp at Heritage Park last year, they saw the need to help all the apartment complex's children stay busy during the summer. This year, organizers got even more groups involved. Area churches were each in charge of a week during the 9-week camp. Attendance varied throughout the summer, but more than 100 children took part. Most of the nine weeks of camp involved collaboration, but the final week was a perfect example of everyone working together, said camp coordinator Sarah Bush. The three days of swimming lessons came from the Rappahannock Chapter of the American Red Cross. The agency received $4,000 from local charity WINGS to offer water safety and swimming lessons to underprivileged children. Bush saw a flyer for the lessons and contacted the Red Cross. The Fredericksburg Parks and Recreation Department donated two hours at Dixon Pool, lifeguards and a swim instructor. Volunteers from three area churches helped, too.

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Date published: 8/21/2009